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ISP2605 · June 23, 2005, 07:07 AM

"The Air Force used the plain vanilla M16 (most were marked AR-15) until the A2 model came along in the 1980s."

Yup. I retired in 2000. Still had some range weapons that were marked AR-15. One year, when I was team captain for the combat rifle team, I took a 5 digit H&R AR-15 slick side to Camp Robinson, Arkansas for regional matches. It was a great shooter. The young Army NCO who was checking us in and inspecting weapons told me I could shouldn't "civilian rifles" during competition. I explained that it was a rack weapon, USGI, from the base. He argued that the military never had AR-15s nor H&Rs and that I wasn't fooling him any. He wasn't going to let the rifle in. I flagged over a CWO-4 who I'd shot with before and explained the situation. He educated the young NCO about the history of the M-16 and AR-15s. That old H&R was older than the Army NCO. Probably shot better than he did too.

"In the summer of 1999, as my career was winding down, I had the misfortune to be assigned to train ALL the pilots from the fighter squadron, including a whole bunch who clearly didn't want to be there. They were the most disrespectful and disorderly group I have ever had to train."

That must be something with all pilots. In the mid-90s we were getting ready to do an overseas deployment with an ORI. I got a call from my CATM guys who were at the range with the pilots. The CATM NCO was madder than a wet hen. The pilots were screwing around, talking during safety brief, messing around on the line. He stopped qualifying and called me. I told him to stand by. I ran over to the Wing King's office and told him the problems, I was making sure no one would be hurt, and that my guys would not be running the range if there were safety problems, ergo, his pilots wouldn't be qualified. He jumped in the truck with me and we drove out to the range. After some discussion we never had a more orderly run range. Them boys knew when the Wing King took the time to come to the range that their butts were in the wind. That Wing King would do that kind of stuff for me. I worked for others who would have blown it all off.

June 23, 2005, 07:07 AM	#41
ISP2605 Junior member Join Date: November 25, 2002 Posts: 954	"The Air Force used the plain vanilla M16 (most were marked AR-15) until the A2 model came along in the 1980s." Yup. I retired in 2000. Still had some range weapons that were marked AR-15. One year, when I was team captain for the combat rifle team, I took a 5 digit H&R AR-15 slick side to Camp Robinson, Arkansas for regional matches. It was a great shooter. The young Army NCO who was checking us in and inspecting weapons told me I could shouldn't "civilian rifles" during competition. I explained that it was a rack weapon, USGI, from the base. He argued that the military never had AR-15s nor H&Rs and that I wasn't fooling him any. He wasn't going to let the rifle in. I flagged over a CWO-4 who I'd shot with before and explained the situation. He educated the young NCO about the history of the M-16 and AR-15s. That old H&R was older than the Army NCO. Probably shot better than he did too. "In the summer of 1999, as my career was winding down, I had the misfortune to be assigned to train ALL the pilots from the fighter squadron, including a whole bunch who clearly didn't want to be there. They were the most disrespectful and disorderly group I have ever had to train." That must be something with all pilots. In the mid-90s we were getting ready to do an overseas deployment with an ORI. I got a call from my CATM guys who were at the range with the pilots. The CATM NCO was madder than a wet hen. The pilots were screwing around, talking during safety brief, messing around on the line. He stopped qualifying and called me. I told him to stand by. I ran over to the Wing King's office and told him the problems, I was making sure no one would be hurt, and that my guys would not be running the range if there were safety problems, ergo, his pilots wouldn't be qualified. He jumped in the truck with me and we drove out to the range. After some discussion we never had a more orderly run range. Them boys knew when the Wing King took the time to come to the range that their butts were in the wind. That Wing King would do that kind of stuff for me. I worked for others who would have blown it all off.